Stock markets in New York opened with a loss on Friday. Investors on Wall Street reacted to the US government jobs report. According to that report, 528,000 new jobs were created in the world’s largest economy in July.
That was much more than economists had expected. Job growth in the United States is essential to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy. A strong labour market gives the US central bank more room to raise interest rates sharply in the fight against high inflation.
Shortly after opening, the Dow-Jones index was 0.5 percent lower at 32,578 points. The broad S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent to 4126 points, and the technology indicator Nasdaq lost 0.9 percent to 12,607 points.
Apple was down 0.8 percent. According to the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei, the iPhone maker has asked its suppliers to comply with Chinese customs requirements regarding deliveries between Taiwan and China to avoid being blocked. For example, the Taiwanese parts must bear a label made in “Taiwan, China” or “Chinese Taipei.”
Tesla fell 1.7 percent. The electric car manufacturer’s shareholders have approved the proposed share split. In addition, CEO Elon Musk announced that he might be able to announce the arrival of a new Giga factory this year.
Warner Bros. Discovery plunged 16 percent after a multi-billion dollar loss in the second quarter. The merger company between the entertainment arm of AT&T and media company Discovery Networks also wants to merge its two streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+, next year.
DoorDash added more than 4 percent. In addition, the meal delivery service performed much better than expected last quarter. Taxi service Lyft also beat market expectations and was raised almost 6 percent.
Beyond Meat won more than 15 percent, despite weaker figures from the manufacturer of meat substitutes. Cinema operator AMC Entertainment suffered slightly more loss than expected last quarter. The company also announced that it would like to pay an additional dividend in preferred shares. The share price fell more than 7 percent.